Xala

Xala (1974) by Ousmane Sembene is a politically engaged, pan-African film that critiques postcolonial African society. It captures the cultural and political upheaval of 1970s Senegal and suggests the radical potential of dissent, solidarity, and collective action. James S. Williams' study explores the film's production history and its combination of political and domestic drama, oral narrative, social realism, symbolism, satire, documentary, mysticism, and Marxist analysis. Despite its conceptual and formal challenges, Xala is a visionary work of African cinema and Third Cinema that resounds today with its searing inventive power.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 112 pages
Publication date: 02 May 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Xala, a groundbreaking film by Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene, was released in 1974 and received critical acclaim for its incisive critique of postcolonial African society. The film centers on the story of businessman El Hadji and his struggle with impotence in his marriage to a young third wife. Set in 1970s Senegal, Xala vividly portrays the cultural and political upheaval of the time, while also exploring the potential of dissent, solidarity, and collective action. The film features a student daughter of El Hadji, Rama, and a group of urban "undesirables" who serve as a raw chorus to the affairs of the neocolonial elite. James S. Williams' insightful study delves into the film's complex production history and examines its blend of political and domestic drama, oral narrative, social realism, symbolism, satire, documentary, mysticism, and Marxist analysis. Despite its dazzling extended opening sequence of revolution as performance and its suspended climax of redemption through ritualized spitting, Xala presents a series of conceptual and formal challenges that resist a simple reading of the film as allegory. Williams highlights the often overlooked elements of Sembene's intricate and experimental film-making, including provocative shifts in mood and poetic, even subversively erotic, moments. He reveals Xala as a visionary work of African cinema and Third Cinema that expanded the boundaries of postcolonial film practice and continues to resonate today with its searing inventive power.

Weight: 176g
Dimension: 136 x 189 x 8 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781839025983